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Police have confirmed an innocent bystander was killed after being confronted by an armed man who was at the time being pursued by police on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway today.
Police say they don't know who fired the fatal shot or shots.
Auckland City District commander, Superintendent George Fraser said the dead man was killed in one of the vehicles that the gunman had tried to take but did not say who fired the fatal shots.
He said shots were fired by police and the gunman during which the innocent man was killed.
Mr Fraser said a police investigator and the Independent Police Complaints Authority are investigating the death.
Another motorist, the driver of a light truck, was also injured after being confronted by the man.
One man is in custody after having been arrested at the motorway scene by Armed Offenders Squad members.
Mr Fraser said the offender is known to police but is not an escaped prisoner.
A sawn-off .22 rifle has been recovered by officers at the scene.
He said the chase started after a bag snatching in West Auckland. A short time later, a patrol car in the area saw a man with a gun.
Mr Fraser said police chased the car which was firing shots at police.
"The vehicle obviously became a serious risk to police, public and any other people in the vicinity," Mr Fraser said.
He said the car the gunman was travelling in stopped on the North-Western Motorway ahead of a police road block and the man jumped the barrier and tried to take another vehicle.
Mr Fraser said police were this afternoon trying to find the family of the man who was shot dead.
He said he could not say what charges the arrested man was facing.
Mr Fraser was cut short by a colleague when asked if the gunman was alone.
In a written statement he said: "This is an absolute tragedy for the family of the dead man and, for that matter, the numerous members of public and police who were drawn into it," He said.
"Detective Inspector Peter Devoy has been tasked with overseeing the Police criminal investigation into the shootings and the events leading up to them. The Independent Police Conduct Authority has been advised.
An eye witness told nzherald.co.nz that he saw an armed man being taken from a truck on the other side of the motorway to a white van.
The man, who does not want to be named, said he saw a Skyline smashed up and a white van parked up on the median strip.
"He had a gun in his hand and he was trying to get into the truck but by the time he got around there, three armed offenders had come around the back way and more had jumped over the barrier," he said.
The witness said he heard three shots - "bop, bop, bop" before he saw police drag a man to the white van.
"From where I was you could see he had been shot because he had white first aid stuff up around his chest and there was red on that area," the man said.
A Herald photographer at the scene said he could see the feet of an unmoving person visible from a white van.
A St John Ambulance team leader told nzherald.co.nz that by the time ambulance got to the scene one man was deceased and another had minor injuries.
Earlier the police pursued the man in a 40 minute chase through Auckland's central suburbs before heading onto the Northwestern Motorway.
It appears the man headed out of the New Lynn-Glen Eden area and drove along Great North Rd.
He was later sighted at the intersection of Sandringham Rd and New North Rd, when the Skyline raced down Bond St. before heading out west to the Northwestern Motorway.
Callers to Newstalk ZB report seeing a grey Nissan Skyline car crashed into a fence on the Northwestern Motorway near the Western Springs off-ramp.
When the chase ended, witnesses reported seeing a man try to hijack a truck.
A total of 20 police vehicles and the police helicopter are thought to have been involved in the chase.
TVNZ said there were reports the incident began when a man tried to steal a handbag. He was then said to have got into a car and driven off.
He is reported to have ditched the car in Titirangi before getting into a Skyline, TVNZ said.
Police shut the motorway with one witness describing it as "looking like a carpark".
- with NZ HERALD STAFF
